Yeah the good old days....I learnt on a 3" Unitron in the late 70's really wish I could have it back I prefer the manual eq5 to the goto version, just dead easy to use and can still find things with the setting circles, the only batteries are 4 size D ones....less is more! I'm only visual though with no thoughts to go imaging. Matt
Thank you very much for the insightful advice.
You have convinced me a non-goto Dob is the way to go, and this is of course well within budget. I do get to learn the sky and I suppose one of the points of a hobby is to develop new skills. The resale value is also appealing for when the inevitable time to upgrade comes.
So I think I'll go for an 8 inch Dob, plus the other recommendations in a post on beginner starter packs.
Thanks again!
Hi Michael,
I certainly could not argue with that choice. It would be my 2nd choice. I would however recommend a 10" as a better option, over the 8". For a bit more money you get a lot more telescope. Two inches extra aperture may not sound a lot but on globular clusters and galaxies there is a significant difference. A 10" telescope gathers 56% more light than an 8" telescope. IMO an 8" is the largest of the small telescopes and a 10" is the smallest of the large telescopes. In the interests of portability/storability and transportability I would give consideration to spending a little extra money and getting a 10" Meade Lightbridge which is a rebadged GSO semi truss scope and very portable, or a 10" collapsible tube Skywatcher.
It could do limited photography of the moon and bright planets that is all. If astrophotography is on your agenda their are better options.
As a visual telescope this would be my first choice on the basis the 10" Meade Lightbridge is no longer available in Australia. I just found that out when I went looking. Bintel have stopped importing the 10" version because the shipping costs are excessive. The 12" Lighbridge is only $1,099 and they are excellent.
I might suggest you consider a 10 or 12" telescope for visual astronomy and consider purchasing a small tracking telescope for astrophotography at a later time. You can use small telescopes for astrophotography they are usless IMO for visual astronomy.
Hi KGB , yea I think almost all of us have (almost) made a bad descision like that at one time or another .
Brian.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KG8
I almost rushed out and bought what I thought was the right scope 6 years ago and luckily I went to an astro camp and spent a couple of nights watching people setup gear and using it. I had owned a 8" sct 20 years ago so I wasn't a newcomer from that perspective but I walked away from that camp with a whole new conception of what I wanted.
There will be a camp or an evening somewhere near you in 2 weeks at the new moon, just call a few local clubs. Choosing a scope to suit really relates more to your natural mechanical abilities. If you like tinkering, can fix a toaster and do a service on your car you may want something a little more challenging than a dob. Some people love them but to me I need more complexity, more of a challenge in my astronomy experience.
BTW, you can use any telescope manually. I often put a small celestron 6" atop a german equatorial mount out in the back yard with no more alignment than pointing it roughly south. I loosen the clutches and can pan around and look at anything, as easily as a dob would. If I plug a battery into it it will also track pretty nicely, agin with no special alignment needed.
BTW, you can use any telescope manually. I often put a small celestron 6" atop a german equatorial mount out in the back yard with no more alignment than pointing it roughly south. I loosen the clutches and can pan around and look at anything, as easily as a dob would. If I plug a battery into it it will also track pretty nicely, agin with no special alignment needed.
Well not quite as easily. I have been there and done that. When you have a 6" refractor on a GEM you need to stand on something when you point it down low and when you aim it up high, which is where I prefer to observe because the air is better, you are crawling around on the ground with the black snakes
Hi Michael have you got a scope? If not... I said earlier to get a 10" Dob as did some others but if you want an 8" think about getting an optical tube and putting it on an eq5 motor driven mount that can also be manually used.These come up in the classifieds all the time. KG8 knows what its about.
Its really easy to set up a manual eq mount in 1-2 mins and have the the scope tracking objects with motor drive. I have just come in from doing just that... Saturn was very nice before the clouds rolled in, but thats Melbourne! Plus you get the added benefit of learning to use the setting circles just like the old days
Matt
Hi all,
Haven't purchased anything yet. In no enormous rush to do so as plenty of other things are going on just at the moment.
I'm going to stick with the 8-inch manual dob. If I really get into this hobby I'll be happy to upgrade later on to something more fancy (or 2).
I prefer the manual eq5 to the goto version, just dead easy to use and can still find things with the setting circles, the only batteries are 4 size D ones....less is more! I'm only visual though with no thoughts to go imaging. Matt
Hi KGB , yea I think almost all of us have (almost) made a bad descision like that at one time or another 
.
Matt
